Lincoln/Coverdale

I’ve been asked a couple times now about the LSAT — how did I approach it? did I take a prep class? what books are helpful? I started preparing in mid-July for an exam on 30 September 2006. I didn’t have enough cash to justify a prep class and I had success using books for the SAT (which I grant was over 10 years prior), so I went the self-study route.

My first task was to take a practice test under timed conditions. I took the test provided in the LSAC information book (available in most admissions offices, or you can download it). Don’t worry if you don’t do as well as you’d have liked. My initial test was 16 points below my eventual official score (and 20 below my highest practice score). Use this first test as a measure of where you have strengths and weaknesses. For example, I was weak in logic games, strong in reading comprehension, and logical reasoning was somewhere in between.

I researched recommended study aids online and discovered the PowerScore Bible series. I picked up the games and reasoning volumes. These are a bit expensive because PowerScore licenses actual prior LSAT questions. I found them particularly useful because they categorize the questions based on the specific skill required.

As logic games were my weak point, I read the games book cover to cover and worked the examples. I set a pace that would leave me two weeks before the exam during which I would take a practice test every other day. When I first started with the games, I could only finish 3 of the 4 problems in the 25 minutes allotted. By the end, I could finish all 4 with enough time to look back at the more confusing questions. In addition, my accuracy increased. I attribute this huge improvement to the strategies in the games bible — their three or four general approaches were much better than my haphazard trial and error.

The reasoning problems weren’t my weakest point, but they are two of the four scored sections of the LSAT, so it is key to master them. The reasoning bible broke the questions into 15 or so categories. Starting with my first practice exam, I organized my wrong answers into these categories and started working on the corresponding sections of the book emphasizing my weakest points. After each exam, I would repeat the process. I’d find that what was weak before was now improved and I had a new weakest point. This ensured that I was putting the most effort into where the most ground could be made up. There’s no point in spending an hour working on a problem type for which you have a 95% success rate when you are getting only 70% somewhere else.

To provide another perspective and get a little bit of instruction on the reading comprehension, I used Master the LSAT. There are a few practice tests in there. I never did use the provided software.

Perhaps most importantly, take lots of practice tests. I think I worked through almost 20 tests in 10 weeks. It doesn’t hurt to take more, but I think it is important to be methodical about it. Take the time to figure out where you are weak. You can make significant improvements with two tests per week or you can burn out taking a test every day — your approach counts. Over the two and a half weeks prior to the real thing, I took 8 practice exams. At this point, I made a decision that I had absorbed quite a bit in terms of strategy and now was the time to really make sure I was comfortable with the timing.

Finally, I did all that stuff that everyone tells you to do: get lots of sleep, eat breakfast, don’t drink a ton of coffee. In the end, I was happy with my score and based on my progression during the two and a half months of studying, I truly believe that I managed to find a good preparation strategy.

I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

While at Michigan Law last weekend, I had a couple of small world-type encounters. Thursday evening, a man saw my name tag and said, “Jesse Kirchner? I think you helped me on my application essay!” Last year, while working on applications and essays, I spent lots of time getting and giving writing help on a prelaw forum. It took me a few moments, but it all came back when he reminded me that I had saved him from including some passages in his essay that could have been construed in a rather perverted light. Let’s just say that it was a Werther’s Original away from completion.

Anyway…I was really glad to have met this guy. He was as nice and friendly in person as he was in his emails. He has already committed to attending Michigan and I look forward to seeing him around in a few months.

I also happened to meet a man who was a graduate of my alma mater. Not much coincidence there, right? Turns out he started out as a physics major. I’m into name dropping, so I mentioned Peter Fisher — a professor in the lab where I did my undergraduate research. Turns out this guy had worked in the lab for my thesis advisor Prof Ulrich Becker just months after I’d graduated. He even said he had heard my name at the lab. I was quite amused by all this.

I spent parts of last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday attending the Admitted Student Weekend at the University of Michigan Law School. Although I sent in my deposit a few weeks ago, I wanted to see more of the campus and meet some people.

I had made a couple assumptions before arriving: 1) that the students would be relatively young, and 2) that most of the students at this event had already decided to attend Michigan Law. I was wrong on both counts. I was older than most of the people I met, but I think I only met a few who were still wrapping up their senior years in college. Most had spent a few years working. This should make for a more interesting group of students. Although I learned more facts in college than during any other four-year period of my life, I think my opinions and points of view have undergone significant change during my 20s. I’m hoping a similar trend applies to people who aren’t me because I find that opinions forged during the certainty of adolescence leave a foul taste in my mouth. I should probably stop eating them.

On the second point, I only met a couple people who had committed to attending Michigan. I had assumed that this late in the game, most people would have pulled the trigger. From what I gathered, lots of people were either waiting to hear from or deciding between really good schools. Having only applied to Harvard, Michigan, and Wayne State (and been rejected at Harvard) made my choice pretty easy. From what I’ve heard, Michigan manages to significantly impact decisions during their preview weekends, so I expect to see lots of familiar faces in the fall.

I am sending the deposit check to the U of M Law School today. I’ve been kind of hemming and hawing about this for a couple weeks. I think seeing the dollar figures associated with this endeavor shocked me a bit. Here goes!